


Time Well Wasted

by Velace



Series: Tumblr Stories [4]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Smut, In case the tags aren't giving it away, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, there's a lot of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 07:43:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14351007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velace/pseuds/Velace
Summary: Emma decides it's high time she took Regina on vacation.Regina is more than okay with that.





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [evergrove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/evergrove/gifts), [SuperfluousStuckupitude](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperfluousStuckupitude/gifts), [Nrrdee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nrrdee/gifts).



> As per usual when I seem to disappear from here, I have been writing but not the things I should be. I’ve been writing this and posting it on tumblr. It was requested I post it here and I said I would, but I decided to finish it first.

“Get in, loser.”

“Are we going shopping?” Emma snorts, the grin spreading across her face. Regina smirks and slides into the passenger seat. She doesn’t often get the movie references, but sometimes Emma takes pity on her and throws her an easy one. “You’re lucky we’re friends.”

“Ditto, otherwise I wouldn’t be taking you on vacation with me.”

Seatbelt halfway across her shoulder, Regina pauses and slowly turns toward her. “What?”

“Henry is with Snow and David, Archie has agreed to cover for you, and your bags are in the trunk. We-” Emma gestures between the two of them. “-deserve a break after this month’s hell.”

Regina opens her mouth to argue but after no more than a second of thought, she quickly closes it again. Emma isn’t being dramatic; the month has been hell. Their most recent villain had had a penchant for damaging property and had destroyed almost half the town before she and Emma managed to contain them. Two weeks later and she’s only just finished getting everything repaired. Emma had had to take a lot of night shifts to prevent the lost boys from taking advantage of the damage to go on looting sprees because spending a majority of their life without adult supervision apparently turns even the most adorable of children into rotten little criminals. 

If anyone deserves a break, she can’t really argue the fact that it’s them. “You’ve been planning this a while, I see,” she says instead, leaning forward as she flicks through radio stations until she finds something that isn’t too horrendous on her ears. She recognizes it as an exercise in futility soon enough. “Did you bring any of your cassettes?”

“Glove box.”

“Ugh.” The glove box  _ sticks _ . “You really need to upgrade from this tin can.” Reaching across her legs, Emma thumps the compartment a couple of times before it falls open. “Show off.” She ignores the warming sensation in her cheeks as best she can when Emma winks at her, searching through an abnormal number of tapes, and huffing after a few moments of not being able to find the one she’s looking for. “Where is that one we listened to while we drove to New York?”

“Uh… Probably still in the player.” She narrows her eyes as green ones dart away from her, a hint of pink in pale cheeks. Emma side-eyes her in the ensuing silence, and sighs.  “What?”

“Nothing.” Sniffing, Regina hits the eject button to make sure it’s the right one before pushing the tape back in and hitting play. “Where are we going?”

“None of your business.” At her deadpan expression, Emma smirks. “It’s a surprise, stop trying to ruin it.”

“I hate surprises.”

“Not mine,” she retorts.

Regina raises a brow and counters, “Your arrival.”

“Except that one.”

“Your election as Sheriff,” she adds.

“And that one.”

“Your terrible tas-”

“Okay, you hate all of them,” Emma concedes with a playful glare, “but you’ll love this one.”

A vacation, alone with the oblivious woman she’s been in love with for the last three years? Yes, the chances are high that she will indeed love this one, but perhaps not quite as secretly as she has loved every other. 

“You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you,” Regina drawls, hiding a smile as Emma rolls her eyes and releases a sigh, exasperated and loud enough to drown out Regina’s own soft, content one as she leans her head back against her seat and settles in for the ride.

**

She falls asleep at some point. She had no idea she was even tired but apparently all it takes is some barely audible music, the hum of the bug and the right kind of company; the quiet kind that occasionally glances at her as if to check she’s still here, as if she would rather be anywhere else. It was her last thought before she closed her eyes, and it is her first when she awakens to feel those eyes on her once more.

When the familiar sensation fades, she assumes Emma’s attention has returned to the road. She peeks an eye open, mouth curving to mirror the smile Emma wears. There has been a significant lack of those in the past couple of weeks. She would be lying if she said she hadn’t missed them. Emma has a habit of looking like a complete and utter dork when she’s happy, so it’s easy to see that she is in this moment, and it sends a rush of warmth through Regina.

“Hungry?”

Having slumped into her seat sometime during her nap, she straightens, unsurprised that Emma knows she’s awake. She wonders, briefly, if it’s because Emma feels the same things she does when she looks at her. “A little,” she admits. “Where are we?”

“Outside Fairfield. There’s a diner about five minutes down this road, just as we come into the town.”

“Never heard of it.”

Emma smiles a little wider. “It’s small,” she explains. “Smaller than Storybrooke. Not many people know about it.”

Regina hums. She’s intrigued, always curious when it comes to the world she’s lived in for over thirty years now and has yet to explore. “And this is where you’re taking me?”

“Not quite. We’ll be about a mile or two on the other side of it. I have… uh.” Emma frowns suddenly, shooting her a half-hearted glare. 

Regina smirks. Sometimes she makes it far too easy. “Suspicious,” she teases.

Poorly stifling a grin as she bites her lower lip, Emma rolls her eyes. “Shut up.”

The diner is slightly more than five minutes away and if the noises Emma’s stomach is making are any indication, it hates every second of them. The speed at which she flies out of the car when they come to a stop is impressive. Almost as impressive as the fact that even though she might be on the verge of starvation, she still takes the time to round the car and open the door for her.

Emma Swan is chivalry at its finest.

Regina grins as she follows her to the door of the diner, which Emma also holds open, her expression absent even a sliver of impatience while she waits. It is in moments like this when Regina remembers why and how she’d fallen in love with her. Emma doesn’t always put her above her own needs or wants, and nor should she, but when she does there is no denying how it makes Regina feel. The consideration, the courtesy, the knowledge that it is mostly subconscious and Emma doesn’t even realize she’s doing it half of the time; there is no denying the warmth that fills Regina as it happens.

It is that same warmth that intensifies when she slides into a booth and Emma slips in beside her rather than across from her. There are a number of patrons dotted about, a majority of who spare them a curious glance before going back to their meals. If Emma notices the scrutiny of the few that stare a little longer than the rest, she doesn’t mention it. Even when the waitress saunters over to take their orders and Emma provides her a rather lengthy list of what to bring them, Regina remains the sole recipient of her attention.

When the waitress wanders off, Regina playfully narrows her eyes and teases, “How many people exactly are you hoping to feed?”

Emma flashes her a lopsided grin. “Just you; I’m hoping that if I fatten you up enough, all these people will stop ogling.”

Regina raises a brow. She’s fairly certain her  _ appearance _ isn’t responsible for the staring but if that’s the way Emma wants to play it, she’s more than happy to go along. “I find it amusing you think a little weight gain is going to make me unattractive,” she drawls, feeling unusually cocky beneath Emma’s gaze.

“Who said anything about a  _ little _ weight gain?” Emma retorts, eyes shining. “I’m thinking three or four hundred pounds should do it… Maybe a bald head. Oh! And a beard.” Nodding to herself, she says, “Trust me, you’ll be so hideous that I’ll be the only person on the planet who’ll still want to look at you, let alone be around you.”

“Is that why you’ve brought me on this vacation? You wanted me all to yourself?”

Despite the immediate pink in her cheeks that says she’s been caught and is embarrassed by the fact, she doesn’t hesitate to respond. “Well, duh.”

**

It’s dark out by the time they leave the diner, and sufficiently cool enough to warrant Emma taking off her jacket and draping it across Regina’s shoulders. Regina pulls it around herself and smiles into the collar, shaking her head at the sweet ridiculousness of the gesture. If it’s too cold for her in her cashmere, turtleneck sweater, then it’s definitely too cold for Emma in her super tight, paper-thin tank top.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Emma replies, ushering her over and into the bug. She makes her way around to the driver’s side, shoving the keys into the ignition and turning on the heat before she’s even fully in her seat. “It takes about twenty minutes to cross town,” she explains as she pulls out of what passes for the diner’s parking lot. “So about twenty five before we reach our destination.”

Regina doesn’t respond. She’s known her long enough to know when Emma is talking merely for the sake of talking. It’s less a nervous habit than it is Emma simply being Emma. She’s comfortable with silence but rarely ever capable of letting it linger, at least as far as Regina is concerned. It wouldn’t surprise her in the slightest to learn Emma had been rambling the entire time she’d slept. Had she woken sooner, it wouldn’t have been the first time she’d caught Emma mid-sentence, talking to her about one thing or another; work, her parents, the past. Emma would often continue as though she’d been awake the whole time and Regina would always do her best to try and follow along.

She has learned a lot about Emma thanks to the habit, though likely not nearly half as much as she might have had she not been asleep at all.

A few minutes have passed and she’s on the verge of nodding off again when Emma speaks. “It’s a cabin.” 

Regina forces her eyes open. “Pardon?”

Emma glances at her and smiles softly. “Where we’re…” She pauses, then shakes her head. “Have your nap, I’ll wake you when we get there.”

“No no.” Dismissing the urge to do just that, Regina sits up and clears her throat. “Tell me,” she insists. “If I fall asleep again, I’ll be up for the rest of the night. We’re going to a cabin?”

“Lakeside cabin. I, uh, bought it about a year ago when-” Regina grimaces, certain she’s about to mention something to do with Hook. It’s enough to nauseate her and it must show when Emma chances another glance. Her eyes widen and she’s quick to reassure her, “No one else knows about it. Definitely not… Ugh. I bought it for us.”

Regina strangles a gasp, though what little of it manages to escape raises her voice an octave or two higher than it should be when she repeats, “Us?”

“Uh huh.”

This time she doesn’t bother to try and control her reaction. “Uh huh? Oh no, no no.” Seeing Emma’s grin, she reaches over and smacks her thigh. “You do  _ not _ get to say something like that without explaining yourself.”

Emma shrugs, still grinning. “You said it yourself; I’ve been planning this for a while.”

Pondering that, Regina is quiet for the remainder of the ride.

She isn’t sure what she’s expecting when they arrive, but it’s definitely not what she gets, whatever it was. Emma calling it a cabin had been an understatement. If Regina had to describe it herself, she’d lean more towards a mansion than anything else. There isn’t a lot to see in the darkness beyond what she can make out in the headlights of the bug, but what she can see is enough for her to wonder how the hell Emma had afforded it.

Had she possessed the small fortune it would have required, Regina is certain Sidney would have uncovered it during his investigation into her all of those years ago. It would be rude to outright ask, she knows, but as she stands there, staring up at the house, the curiosity is nothing less than overwhelming. 

So much so, that she’s frozen until she feels something bump her hip. “You’ll need to unlock the door, Your Majesty,” Emma says as she saunters passed, a suitcase in each hand and a bag thrown over the shoulder. “Keys are in my jacket.”

Patting herself down, she finds them in the left inside pocket she didn’t know was there, as well as Emma’s phone, a small pocket knife, and a handful of peppermint candy; she’d always wondered why Emma smelled of mint all the time. She smirks, unwrapping a piece and popping it into her mouth as she climbs the stairs to the porch where Emma waits with narrowed eyes.

Sliding the key into the door, she questions innocently, “What?”

“What,” Emma echoes, her tone playfully mocking. She nudges passed her as the door swings open and steps into the house. “Bloody fairytale thieves,” she murmurs, setting their luggage down.

When she turns around and wanders back outside, Regina frowns. “Where-”

“Need to turn the power on,” Emma interrupts, already down the stairs before she pauses and turns back around. “Uh… you wanna come?”

Regina bites the inside of her cheek, not entirely sure for whose benefit Emma is offering. Regardless, she’s touched, whether it’s out of a desire to make her feel safe or because Emma might feel safer with her. “Do you want me to?”

“Always,” she responds without hesitation, “but it’s not necessary.”

Regina grins. Her own benefit, then. She teases, “You sure?”

Feigning a look of mild outrage, Emma raises her chin and confidently turns on her heel, disappearing around the side of the house. Regina chuckles, head shaking as she wanders deeper into the house in the hope of sating at least a little of her curiosity before Emma returns.

The view of the lake from the living room arrests her the moment she sees it, moon high in the sky and casting an ethereal glow across the water. It is gorgeous; positively breathtaking, in fact. She stands transfixed, gazing out at the sight as she remembers home and all of nature’s wonder that she had missed during those first few years in Storybrooke. As much as Regina loves her town, she sometimes forgets about the simple pleasures it lacks. The trees surrounding it could only tamper some of her nostalgia, and the view from the pier has always been tainted by the scent from the nearby fishery.

Whatever the cost, she’s pleased Emma has chosen so well. If there is ever a place she can relax, then this unnecessarily large and over indulgent cabin with its perfect views is certainly it.

“You like?” Hearing the voice, sudden and so very close, she jumps. “Sorry,” Emma murmurs, palm pressing into the small of her back. “I tried not to be too quiet.”

Smiling, Regina turns her head only to be rendered breathless once more. Emma has always been a sight to admire- generally from afar and in secret, but a sight nonetheless. Seeing her like this, though; bright green eyes made brighter by the moon and a smile that might very well rival it’s light should it ever desire to do so.

When the smile transforms, a knowing grin replacing it, she flushes and quickly looks away. “Try harder next time,” she chides half-heartedly, voice hoarse.

Emma chuckles, removing the hand as she steps back. “I’ll take our stuff upstairs but we’ll have to stay down here tonight.”

Regina turns, facing her. “Why?” She frowns. “And where, exactly, are you expecting me to sleep?”

“Heat takes a while to kick in.” Emma gestures to the couch. “You’ll be sleeping there,” she says, mouth curving, winking when she adds, “With me.”

**

This isn’t quite what she had in mind when Emma said those words. Admittedly, in order for them to be doing what had been on her mind, a lot would have had to happen in the twenty minutes that have passed since then. Still, how was she supposed to know the couch pulled out, or that Emma  _ wasn’t _ thinking those same thoughts, or that there would be a grand canyon’s worth of space between them?

“Wanna watch a movie?”

She forces both of her eyes open. “What?”

Emma rolls onto her side so that they’re facing one another. “You’re restless, and it’s not even that late,” she says. “I brought my laptop and I have a bunch of movies we can watch...”

Regina hums, considering. It really isn’t that late, and given her current thoughts, the chances of her falling asleep any time soon are slim. She supposes she could do with the distraction. “What kind?”

“Horror?”

“And risk my shins when you start having a nightmare and turn violent? I think not.”

Emma pouts. “Aw, come on.”

“In case it’s slipped your attention, we are in one of  _ the _ prime locations favoured by producers of horror films,” Regina points out. “No.”

“Scared?”

Maybe a little. A bunch of idiots tempting fate  _ is _ how a lot of horror movies start out after all. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’ll keep you safe.” Although her tone is teasing, Regina can tell she means it. She’s considering when Emma shifts closer and lowers her voice to say,  “We can even cuddle.”

Mind going blank at the thought, Regina merely blinks at her.

Slowly, Emma starts to smile. “Horror?”

Closing her eyes, Regina sighs, tipping her head forward as she concedes, “Horror.”


	2. Day 2

Emma moves around when she sleeps. Ordinarily, it isn’t something that would bother Regina because she’s far from a light sleeper. The problem is that Emma is freakishly strong and considering she’s wrapped around her throughout the night, it’s a little bit much to be woken every few hours by being flipped onto her side, or back, or stomach; the last position being the only one she was happy to be woken for because it meant falling back to sleep  _ on top _ of Emma.

It’s from that position that she wakes for the last time this morning, sun shining in through the windows and warming her back. Combined with the heat Emma gives off and the blankets pooled around their waists, it’s a bit much but even so, Regina lingers. If they ever share a bed again, she knows exactly how she wants to fall asleep now, and she’ll be more than happy to tie Emma down if that’s what it takes.

A full bladder is what eventually forces her to get up. At least, it would have if she didn’t freeze a split-second after she tries to move because, as it turns out, the sun isn’t the only thing warming her back. Sometime during the night, Emma’s hand had found its way beneath her shirt and when she tried to move, she’d gotten herself a spine full of surprisingly sharp nails.

Under the right circumstances, she certainly isn’t averse to the sensation- would even encourage it. Unfortunately, whatever their relationship might be, she is more than aware that they aren’t quite  _ there _ .

Naturally, being unintentionally turned on by the woman she loves and not being able to do anything about it puts her in an understandably bad mood.

A pinch to her side is more than enough to jerk Emma awake.

“What the- Regina?” Sounding far more alert than she has any right to be, she questions, “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

The concern is enough to induce a pang of guilt, which only annoys Regina more. She raises her head and drawls, “Unless you’d like to be urinated on, I suggest you retract your claws and let me get up.”

Emma quickly snatches the hand out from underneath her shirt. “Sorry?”

Grumbling to herself, Regina throws back their blankets and climbs off the couch. She manages to hold on to her irritation until she finds the bathroom, groaning as she closes the door and leans her back against it.

Scant seconds later, a knock startles her. “Regina?” She sighs. “I’m going to get breakfast. Do you want anything?”

“I’m-”  _ not hungry _ . She sighs again, more annoyed with herself now. This isn’t how their vacation should start. It’s not as if Emma had deliberately aroused her- and really, what kind of idiot is she to be mad about it to begin with? Emma turns her on all the damn time and has likely never been aware of it. “Let me finish in here and get dressed, I’ll come with you.”

“Oh.” She can hear the relief, and the smile in Emma’s voice almost as clearly as she can picture it in her mind. “Okay then.”

**

Emma takes them to a little cafe she’s apparently been to before, explaining only so much as that she  _ knows the owners _ . In an effort to restart their morning on a lighter note, Regina hasn’t pushed for more details. She’s waiting at the counter while Emma searches the bug for her wallet, when a boy of no more than sixteen appears. She almost laughs when what she supposes might pass for a charming grin, to a teenage girl, emerges on his face. “Wow. Hi.”

Emma arrives just in time, no doubt catching his grin before he manages to hide it upon seeing her. “Down boy,” she drawls, a note of teasing in her voice. “She’s spoken for.”

“Who’s the lucky guy?”

“Me.”

Barely able to resist the urge to protest the claim she was spoken for, hearing Emma claim her for herself has her mouth falling open in shock. Luckily with his attention on Emma, she manages to recover before she gives the lie away, though the little smirk Emma wears isn’t gone unnoticed, letting her know that Emma had seen, or, at the very least, predicted what her reaction would be.

“Oh. Sorry, ‘Em.” The boy is still grinning, a much dopier and more innocent grin. “Good to see you again, here for breakfast?”

“No,” she deadpans. “I came hoping to be hit on by the pimply teenager behind the register,” 

He snorts. “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”

Unlike him, Regina senses her growing agitation and interjects, “Having woken up beneath me, I highly doubt that.”

“Whoa.” His laughter is light and she can almost  _ feel _ Emma relax beside her at the sound. “Alright then,” he continues, beaming at them now as picks up pen and pad. “What can I get you ladies?”

“I’ll have the special. She’ll- uh.” Emma pauses, glancing at her. Regina raises a brow, curious but also challenging her. “Eggs benedict...” She inclines her head, subtle but enough that Emma adds with more confidence, “-with a side of hash browns she’ll pretend she doesn’t want but ignore her and add them anyway otherwise she’ll steal mine.”

Regina smirks. It’s good to have someone who knows her so well.

“Will do,” the boy murmurs, oblivious. He looks up from the pad. “Hot chocolate? Coffee? Tea? Juice?”

“Surprise me,” Emma replies dismissively, already placing a hand at her back and leading her away. Regina frowns but it vanishes as quickly as it comes when Emma calls over her shoulder, “Coffee for her. _Extra_ _strong_.”

Taking their seats, Emma again occupies the space beside her rather than across the table. Minding even less than she had last time, Regina props her head in hand and turns toward her. She doesn’t say anything, nor does she raise a brow in question. She waits, allowing the air of expectancy surrounding them to do all the work for her while she delights in watching Emma try not to squirm too visibly.

It’s a valiant effort; legs still, one hand on the table, the other on a thigh. If not for the way Emma completely avoids eye contact, she might actually be fooling anyone who doesn’t know her the way Regina does.

She crumbles well within a minute.

“You didn’t come here to be hit on,” she reasons confidently. “I know he’s just a kid, but it sets a precedent.”

Regina stifles an amused snort. As far as excuses go, it isn’t awful but it is most definitely a lie, and one she will not abide. “Does it?”

“Yes.” Their eyes meet before Emma sighs. “But that’s not why I did it,” she concedes, sounding contrite. “I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“I never used to get jealous.” Regina frowns, not quite sure what that has to do with anything. “Neal was an outrageous flirt and Hook- well; he hit on anything with a pulse.” Emma chuckles at her grimace and apologizes again. “I know you hate it when I bring either of them up, but it’s… relevant. It never bothered me, you know? And then one day I look up; we were at the Author’s house and you were upset. Robin was there, trying to comfort you and…”

Regina remembers the day clearly. She also remembers moving away from him, and the look in those eyes that Emma hadn’t hidden fast enough. She had hoped, but she never dared ask. “All this time?”

“I know I should have said something. Maybe not then, but after… and before-” Emma stops herself from continuing and shakes her head. “After the Underworld and all that other shit went down, we started spending more time together and I started paying more attention…” She smiles wryly and says, “You get hit on  _ a lot _ , did you know that?”

“Yes.” 

Emma nods, shoulder rising in a half-shrug. “You are way better at ignoring it than I am.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” Regina explains. Sometimes it had been flattering but more and more she’d found the attention annoying and eventually learned to tune it all out. Very rarely, as was the case with the boy, she’ll allow it as something to entertain her but it would never go anywhere, and certainly not with someone who’s the same age as their son.

“I started to wonder if you’d notice if I were the one doing it,” Emma muses after a few minutes pass in silence.

Regina bites the inside of her cheek as she tries to imagine it. It doesn’t take much for her to decide that Emma flirting with her would be, if not too adorable to ignore, then certainly too out of character.

“I would have.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” 

And if Emma wore the grin that currently resides on her face while doing so, she would have had a hard time not encouraging it, and that simply wouldn’t do. 

Smirking, she adds, “I also would have told you to grow a pair and ask me out already.”

**

They were both quiet while they ate. When they were done, Emma had stood up and wandered over to the register. She had stayed there for a few minutes and talked to the boy before she’d paid him for their meals and sauntered back to their table. Regina had been surprised when Emma offered her her hand, silent but with an intense look in her eyes. The silence continued as they left the cafe but with her hand still safely gripped in Emma’s own, any possible fears Regina might have conjured up in the meantime remained at bay. 

“I would have,” Emma says, “asked you out, I mean.”

Regina hums. They’re walking through town when Emma breaks the silence with those words. She has a lot to say in response but she can sense that Emma’s not done and while she isn’t the most patient woman in the world, she’s willing to wait to find out what else Emma might wish to confess to this morning.

“You weren’t wrong when you said I planned this.” Emma chuckles softly. “A year in the making, and it falls apart the second I see you standing on the sidewalk waiting for me, just because I sent you a text asking you to.”

“A year?” Regina breathes, her eyes going wide. 

“A year,” Emma repeats, glancing at her from the corner of her eye. The side of her mouth quirks. “We weren’t meant to leave until this morning. I was going to take you out, tell you about the cabin while we had dinner together… confess.” She snorts. “This was supposed to be a romantic weekend, then I saw you and thought  _ fuck it _ ; I knew you’d come if it was just some spontaneous trip because you really seem to like humouring me and I… I couldn’t risk you saying no, and if you’d said yes, then I wouldn’t have been able to wait to be alone with you.”

Lump forming in the back of her throat, Regina tries to swallow it down to no avail. It sticks, rendering her mute as her mind tries to process everything. She would have said yes. She wouldn’t have cared about Emma’s  _ plan _ . She would have insisted they leave as soon as possible. She would have trusted that Emma had ensured someone would take care of their son while they were away. Her position as Mayor and who might fill it in her absence likely wouldn’t have occurred to her at all because the chance to be alone with Emma for any significant length of time is rare, and it’s a chance she wouldn’t think twice about taking.

“You… you’re-” She purses her lips. She can’t finish that sentence, can’t get her hopes up.  _ Won’t _ . Emma might  _ like _ her, might be  _ falling _ for her but-

“Yeah.” Emma stops them from walking as she interrupts and steps in front of her. “Yes,” she murmurs, as intune with her thoughts as ever as she draws her in. “I’m in love with you.”

Breath hitching, Regina sways forward, bringing them close enough to kiss. “Love?”

“Love.” Emma smiles, reaching up with her other hand. She cups her cheek and says, “I love you.”

As the words wash over her, Regina erases the last of the space between them. She kisses her, eyes slipping closed when Emma doesn’t hesitate to kiss her back, lips oh so soft, and  _ warm _ \- so very warm as the hand slips from her cheek to the back of her neck, fingers flexing as if wanting to grab hold of her and never let go.

Regina hums against her mouth, heat pooling in the pit of her stomach. She guides Emma’s other hand to her hip before setting her own on either side of Emma’s jaw and begging entrance into her mouth, tongue swiping her lower lip. Emma grants it immediately, their moans simultaneous as Regina sweeps into her mouth, tasting her.

It doesn’t escape Regina that she is quite literally making out with the woman of her dreams on the sidewalk and in a town full of strangers, no less. Her mind practically screams the fact at her, and yet she can’t quite find it within herself to care. She is  _ drowning _ in everything Emma; her scent, her taste, her warmth. Her  _ love _ . She doesn’t want it to end, not ever but in the short-term; not yet.

Winding her arms about Emma’s neck, she revels in the sensation of lips and tongue, of the hand entangling itself within her hair and the arm enveloping her waist, tugging her impossibly close. She sighs into the kiss, safe in the knowledge that Emma doesn’t want it to end either, and savouring every little thing she feels until the inevitable.

They draw it out for as long as possible, stubborn to the end. Eventually the kiss slows, becoming lighter as their need for air surpasses their desire. Emma chuckles, nipping her bottom lip before she pulls back, cheeks dimpled with her smile. “We should have done that sooner.”

“Agreed.” Regina grins, resting their heads together. “Imagine what would have happened if we’d done that the night we met.”

Emma snorts. “No. No way. If I start imagining that, I’ll be kicking myself for… ever.” Leaning her head back, she peers down at her and sighs. “God, I already want to kiss you again.”

“The feeling’s mutual.” Tilting her head forward, Regina brushes her nose up along the length of Emma’s throat. The temptation to continue their little makeout session is strong but sense somehow finds her before she gives in. She presses a kiss to Emma’s jaw and, with a sigh of her own, extracts herself from an embrace she wouldn’t mind spending the rest of her life in. “I believe you mentioned something about groceries when you dragged me out of the house this morning?”

Emma’s expression contorts in something resembling distaste. “You just had to remind me.”

“Our romantic weekend will be far more successful if neither of us succumbs to starvation,” Regina points out, her grin widening at Emma’s scoff. As Emma recaptures her hand and leads her toward the grocery store, she adds coyly, “You’re certainly going to need the energy if you hope to keep up with me.”

Emma whips her head around, staring. She almost walks into a pole Regina yanks her out of the way of, laughter spilling from her lips before it’s abruptly cut off and she groans into Emma’s mouth. 

“I do hope that becomes a habit,” she says breathlessly when the kiss ends.

“Almost braining myself, or the kissing?”

She chuckles, teasing, “Well…”

“Hmph.”

**

Watching Emma carry groceries into the house is an experience. Listening to her bemoan fate and complain about the cruel realities of the utterly hopeless, unhelpful woman she fell in love with is a small price to pay. She is quite clearly teasing but for those biceps, Regina decides, Emma can call her whatever the hell she wants, teasing or not. She also decides that it is a sin to have known Emma for all of this time and  _ not _ paid her physique the attention it so rightly deserves.

“I feel like a piece of meat.”

Regina forgives her the dramatization. “Fitting-” she murmurs, chin in hand as she gazes at her from across the counter. “-considering how desperately I’d like to sink my teeth into you.”

Perhaps she should have waited for Emma to finish her water.

Thumping her chest, Emma coughs one last time before she croaks, “Well...”

“Too soon?”

“It has only been six years,” she drawls, smirking. Setting her glass down, she places her hands on her hips, mock serious as she questions, “How long before you ask me to move in? A decade? Slow down, geez.”

Regina bites her lip, slowly dragging her eyes down in appreciation of the new pose. Getting her fill, she flicks them back up and offers, half-hearted chiding in her tone, “Smartass.”

“This ass?” Emma twists her lower half, peering down at the ass in question. Regina follows her gaze, head shaking at the thought that passes through it. Emma is asking for trouble wearing those jeans. “Seems pretty average to me.”

“You’re blind,” she retorts before she can think better of it, then sighs. “You look ridiculous.”

Emma grins and shrugs, swivelling her hips until the whole of her is facing forward again. “How long should I wait to start on lunch?”

Incredulous, Regina stares at her a solid minute before she can speak. “You’re hungry again already? We just had breakfast.”

“Yeah, three  _ hours _ ago.”

She waves her hand. While true, that isn’t all Emma has eaten in those three hours. “You demolished an entire bag of m&ms between stores, not to mention half of my pizza bread- which you will be replacing, by the way.”

Emma narrows her eyes. “Watching you shop makes me hungry.”

Regina snorts. “Everything makes you hungry.”

“You won’t be complaining when we-” Eyes widening as if suddenly realizing what she’s about to say, Emma falters. “Uh.”

Intrigued, not to mention positively delighted, Regina leans forward and purrs, “Yes? When we… what, Emma? Don’t stop now.”

Turning a bright shade of red, she turns around and begins searching through the bags. “I’m starting lunch,” she mumbles. “You can starve for all I care.”

**

Twenty minutes later while flipping through a book she’d found tucked into the side of the chair across the room, Emma brings her a salad with pieces of grilled chicken drowned in all manner of herbs, and it is delicious. 

Regina isn’t in the least bit surprised.

**

Returning to the lounge after taking their dishes to the kitchen, Emma falls onto the couch beside her. “I was thinking we could go for a walk around the lake.”

Looking up from the book, Regina glances outside. “It’s raining,” she says. It was a nice thought, but there is no way she’s risking a cold just so Emma can woo her. She’s perfectly wooed, right here in the lounge, stomach warm and full, love of her life by her side. She is content and, more importantly, dry; where it counts.

“Yes,” Emma concedes, “but it wasn’t when I was thinking it.”

Brow cocked, Regina looks at her and teases, “You’re so romantic.”

Emma rolls her eyes. “Shut up.”

“And very rude.”

Sighing, she tips onto her side and lays her head in Regina’s lap. “I don’t know why I put up with you.”

“It’s my winning personality,” Regina replies, threading fingers through her hair.

Emma laughs. “Yeah, no.”

“See.” Pouting, Regina tugs on her hair lightly, then scratches her scalp. “Rude.”

“Mmm.”

Staring down at her, Regina smiles, unabashedly fond. She could get used to this. “Are you going to fall asleep on me?”

Emma peeks an eye open. “If you keep doing that, probably.”

Humming, Regina strokes through her hair until the eye closes again. Seemingly sinking deeper into her lap, Emma sighs happily. “Is this your idea of a vacation,” Regina questions her, “stuffing your face until you can’t take any more, and napping the day away?”

“Vacation? I do this whenever possible.”

Feeling her smile grow, she chuckles. If this is what she has to look forward to, she most definitely is going to get used to it. She likes to cook, Emma likes to eat, and they both apparently love naps; how can she not love her? 

She disentagles her fingers from Emma’s hair and guides them down along her cheek as she says quietly, “I think we might be perfect for each other.”

Emma’s mouth twitches as she claims her hand. Kissing her palm, she replies, “I know we are.”

**

Regina falls asleep, of course. It can’t be helped. Her last thought before she drifts off is about how sweet Emma is, and also how she’s going to have a crick in her neck when she wakes up. She’s not often wrong but when she blinks her eyes open, she’s staring at the back of the couch, which means she’d either performed an impressive feat of gymnastics while unconscious, or Emma was a lot gentler than she had been this morning.

Deciding Emma is the more likely culprit, she shifts, frowning as she rolls onto her back and scans the room. Empty. “Emma?”

She hears the clatter of something from another room and a curse before Emma appears at the end of the couch with a smile far too bright. “Hey.”

Pushing herself up on her elbows, Regina squints up at her. “What were you doing?”

“Nothing.”

The denial is far too quick. She tilts her head. “Is that so?”

“Uh huh.”

“Hmm.” Emma is definitely lying but everything from her tone to her expression is far too blaise for it be about anything serious. Mentally, Regina shrugs before pulling herself up and sitting back against the arm rest. “In that case, come here.”

Emma rounds the couch, though she pauses at her knees. “Why?”

It’s been a while since Emma has looked even slightly afraid of her. Regina doesn’t miss it, but it is somewhat  amusing to see it now. “Because I want to do something,” she drawls, hiding her grin.

“What?”

“Why don’t you come closer and find out?” Emma takes a step forward and then another, hesitant but progressing. Regina starts to smile, eyes zeroing in on those pretty pink lips as one disappears between teeth. She hadn’t quite figured out what she was going to do when Emma was close enough, but she has an idea now. She purrs, “Closer.”

As Emma bends down, she tries to speak. “Any closer and I-” 

Thrusting a hand out, Regina snags the front of her shirt and pulls her into a kiss. Emma surrenders straight away, moaning against her mouth as she climbs onto the couch and straddles her thighs. 

It isn’t long before the scent of something burning fills the air. 

“Shit,” she gasps, tearing herself from the kiss as she shoots up from the couch. “Be right back!” She skids to a stop at the entrance to the lounge long enough to look back. “Don’t… don’t move.”

Regina snorts as soon as Emma is gone. She had no intention of moving but if Emma expects her to stay put after that, then the woman is seriously delusional. Rising from the couch, she takes the time to stretch before following her nose to the kitchen. Beneath the burnt smell, she can detect the faintest hint of cheese, garlic and some type of meat, and her mouth begins to water.

She can’t be more than half a foot from her destination when Emma rounds the corner, brow raised as if she’d been expecting her to be there. “What did I say?”

Feigning casual indifference at being caught, Regina replies, “Something idiotic, I’m sure.” Brushing passed her, she hears Emma’s sigh. “More food?”

“I owed you pizza bread.”

She stills, realizing the terrible mistake she’s made. “You decided to make it?”

“Yes.”

Her shoulders slump as she turns around, not at all surprised by the glare Emma has leveled her with. She deserves it. “I ruined the surprise.”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry.” Taking a step forward, she slides her arms over Emma’s shoulders, relieved that Emma lets her. She leans in and kisses her softly on the lips. “You really are the sweetest person I know.”

Mouth twitching, Emma rolls her eyes before returning the embrace, wrapping arms around her waist and warning,  “Don’t let my mother hear you say that.”

Regina grimaces. “I said sweetest-” she says, wrinkling her nose, “-not most saccharine and sickening.”

**

They eat the parts of the pizza bread that aren’t burned. It’s good, better even than the one she makes when Henry begs her for pizza and she doesn’t want him consuming the disgusting artery clogging slop from the Storybrooke pizzeria. She doesn’t realize how late it is until she looks out the kitchen window. The sun has almost set and when she comments on the fact, Emma takes her by the hand and pulls her outside. The rain had stopped at some point and left the porch relatively dry, allowing them to watch from the comfort of the three-seater lounge sat against the house.

Having thought the view of the lake at night breathtaking, Regina has no words to describe the sheer beauty that is the sunset. It is made all the more beautiful by the woman whose lap she occupies and who, upon sitting, had wrapped around her waist and hasn’t moved since.

They stay like that until the moon once more illuminates the darkened sky and Emma demands what little of her attention remains on the sight, distracting her with light, barely there kisses against the skin of her neck. She hums appreciatively, leaning back into the warmth of their embrace as she tilts her head to the side to give Emma more room.

Warm, supple lips dance across her flesh, filling her with heat. She turns, nudging Emma’s cheek with her nose until Emma looks up and she can capture that wonderful mouth. Emma’s arms go slack and she begins to caress her inner thigh as they kiss, daring to go higher with every lengthened stroke but never quite high enough.

Regina wonders if Emma thinks it’s too soon and decides to find out, lacing their fingers together and drawing the hand away from her thigh. Emma resists but not enough to deter her as she guides the hand underneath her shirt. When she’s sure Emma will leave it there, she gives back control of her hand, releasing it and sliding out her own, raising it up over her shoulder and gripping Emma’s hair.

Emma’s palm is warm as it glides over skin, her touch light at first. As their kiss deepens further though, so too does the press of her hand; from gentle brushing to a firm, pointed rubbing across Regina’s lower stomach. Arousal igniting, flaring bright and hot beneath the touch, Regina groans into her mouth, thighs clenching as she shifts and tries to find something- anything that will provide the friction she needs all of a sudden.

She doesn’t know which part of her response sets Emma off, but when the hand slips down and slides beneath the waistband of her trousers, she almost breaks the kiss to cry out in relief. Instead, she kisses Emma harder, hoping it’s enough to show her appreciation and encourage Emma all at once.

It is, and with no more than a few strokes of those long, skilled fingers, she’s coming, writhing in pleasure as she coats Emma’s hand.


	3. Day 3

It’s official the next morning; there is nothing better, in Regina’s opinion, than waking up on top of Emma. Unless, of course, she considers whether or not they are clothed, and then there is nothing better than waking up. Whether it’s on top of, underneath or beside Emma; there is nothing better. Period.

Half asleep kisses come close. 

Very close.

“Mmm. Good Morning.”

“That it is,” Regina purrs. Naked, half asleep kisses and that chill-worthy hoarseness in a voice already capable of turning her on with a simple  _ hi _ ; good doesn’t even begin to cover what she thinks of this morning. “I may never leave this couch again.”

Emma chuckles, brushing her nose along the underside of her jaw as she murmurs, “There are multiple, perfectly serviceable beds upstairs, you know.”

“Hmm.” Regina had assumed, but she did, in fact, not know that. There was nothing special about this couch but it hadn’t stopped them from falling asleep on it two nights in a row, and now that they’ve had sex on it for the first time- well; there isn’t a single piece of furniture in the house that will ever compare. “I have no objections to christening other surfaces, but this couch will always hold a special place in my heart.”

Emma pulls her head back to study her, expression warm with her smile. Regina strokes her cheek, also smiling while she waits for the thoughts she can plainly see scrawled across her face. Emma catches her hand, threading their fingers together and kissing her before she says a thing. “I like you like this,” is what she comes up with, moving their hands to her mouth and grazing the backs of Regina’s knuckles with her lips. “Soft... warm-” she continues, her tone turning teasing. “-and completely infatuated with me.”

Unable to help herself, Regina laughs, which causes the smile to widen. In turn, Emma has once again left her feeling breathless. Never, in all of her years, has she ever seen someone who happiness looks so good- so  _ right _ on. “I love you.”

“I know.”

She smirks. “Oh you do, do you?”

“Mhmm.” Kissing her wrist, Emma brings their hands down, guiding Regina’s arm to wrap around her waist before she drapes her own over Regina’s and admits, “It took me a while.”

Recalling their conversation from the day before, Regina furrows her brow. “You said you weren’t sure I’d say yes to coming here.”

“Not because I thought you didn’t love me.”

The  _ then why? _ is on the tip of her tongue but the answer dawns before she can set it free and she breathes in understanding, “You didn’t think I’d take the risk.”

Emma nods. “I hoped, but hope isn’t always enough for me.” She takes a breath, then goes on to explain, “I decided on the way here that I was just going to tell you and let whatever happened, happen. I wanted you to have the chance to tell me, even if you decided you didn’t want to be anything more than friends, and I… I wanted to stop wondering, so…”

“Here we are?”

She grimaces, no doubt realizing how it might sound but answering anyway, “Yeah.”

There are a hundred ways Regina can respond, a hundred different things she could feel but what she knows to be true is enough to dismiss them all; she has been in love with Emma for years. She may have considered doing something about it, or saying something from time to time to let Emma know but, in the end, she hadn’t. In the end, Emma is the one that put it all on the line. “I’m glad you took the risk.”

Emma hesitates, nibbling on her lower lip for a few seconds before she says, “I’m glad you’re giving us a chance.”

“Chance?” With a wry smile, Regina shakes her head. “This isn’t a chance, Miss Swan. This is  _ it _ .”

Emma returns the smile, though it is far from wry. “Yeah?”

“Mmm.” Between more kisses, Regina teases, “If we don’t work out, it’ll be because you’ve driven me insane and I’ve finally murdered you.”

“That’s fair.” Emma scoots closer somehow. Regina didn’t think it possible, but there must have been space between them because now she is very aware of Emma’s breasts, and those thighs for which she has a rather beautiful collection of memories to draw from, almost all of them involving being helplessly, wonderfully smothered. “If you’re not averse, I wouldn’t mind trying to drive you insane right now.”

“It’s your funeral.”

**

As much as they were enjoying themselves, their stomachs eventually protested being neglected for so long in favour of a silly little thing like sex. It was well after time when Regina usually has breakfast that they finally set aside their desire for one another and went to the kitchen in search of something to eat. Emma, as it turned out and to Regina’s utmost delight, was a shameless tease, having refused to get dressed until the very last minute when she decided today was the day they were going to take that walk around the lake she’d mentioned yesterday. 

They take a break about halfway, at which point Regina discovers that watching Emma skip stones across the lake’s surface is weirdly mesmerizing. She decides to break the silence that has fallen over them before she starts to drool.

“So?”

Emma glances at her over a shoulder and asks, “You having conversations with the me in your head and mistaking her for the real thing again?”

Regina stifles a smirk. “The house, Emma.”

Her mouth forms a silent ‘O’. “That... it belonged to my brother,” she offers casually, and nothing more.

At only four years old, Regina supposes she doesn’t mean Neal, and huffs at the ridiculous thought. “You have another brother I don’t know about?” She glares at Emma when her only response is to shrug. “Do you want me to throw you into the lake?”

Emma grins. “Foster brother,” she supplies. “We were close for the short time I was with his family and we kept in touch over the years.” Curiosity nowhere near sated, Regina stares her down until she relents with a sigh and elaborates, “About three years ago, he called me up and said he was thinking about moving to Africa. He wanted to go over and visit first and asked me if I could look after the cabin. I couldn’t, but I knew someone who could and suggested I call her to ask.” Again, she shrugs. “I did, she could, he went. They met when he returned, fell in love, and decided to move there together; I got the house.”

Regina frowns as more questions form. “You said you bought it.”

“He wanted to give it to me as a way of thanking me for bringing them together,” Emma explains, eyes rolling as she turns back to the lake. “I said no, so he offered to sell it to me instead. He went on about it being somewhere I could spend the occasional weekend with someone special-”

Confusion remains. Three years ago, Emma was with Hook. Regina grimaces, the mere thought of the man turning her stomach. She interrupts, “And rather than your boyfriend, you thought of me?”

Emma swings around, arm raised mid-throw and staring at her as though Regina is the one who has completely lost her mind. She lowers her arm and says, “You are  _ always _ my first thought.”

Regina opens her mouth but put like that, how can she possibly respond?  _ She _ is Emma’s first thought? Her? Not the boyfriend she had claimed to love at the time, nor the parents for who she was one half of their everything, or even the son who’d stolen a credit card from his teacher and runaway from home to find his wayward mother at the ripe age of ten. Not them. Her.

Heat suffuses her chest and she closes her mouth, momentarily at a loss for words. They are going to have to have a long talk about Emma and her priorities, but for now- for now Regina needs to do the one and only thing she can think of to show Emma just how much she appreciates the current order of things.

Licking her lips as the heat travels swiftly elsewhere, she croaks, “Come here.”

This time, Emma doesn’t hesitate.

With a knowing grin, she tosses the remaining pebbles in her hand over her shoulder and saunters closer. She waits for Regina to look up before literally dropping to the ground, knees hitting the edge of the blanket she had laid out earlier for them to sit on. Her hands are next, landing on the outside of each of Regina’s legs as she starts to crawl forward.

Nostrils flaring, impatient, Regina reaches for her, fingers clasping the back of her neck. She tugs, forcing Emma to surge the rest of the way, and crashing their mouths together. The kiss is hunger, love and everything in between. Regina flips them the instant it occurs to her that Emma is distracted enough for her to be able to do so without resistance. She had found out last night that Emma loves to be pinned down just as much as Regina loves to be the one pinning her, and Emma’s reaction is no different now than it had been then.

The whimper is muted against her mouth, inaudible to anyone more than a few inches away, but the desperation of those hands as they shoot to her hips and cling to her is impossible to miss. Almost as impossible as Regina not noticing the significant absence of nails biting into her skin.

Emma growls deep in her throat when she breaks the kiss. Regina only smirks and says, “I merely wanted to express my appreciation for your preparedness this morning.”

“My jaw deserved the break,” Emma deadpans despite the pink in her cheeks. She then grabs the back of her head and draws Regina back down, recapturing her mouth before she can respond.

They spend long minutes just kissing. A hand wanders every so often- hers and Emma’s, sometimes inching beneath clothes, sometimes not; their caresses enough to keep the arousal simmering but not enough to push them over the edge and headlong into public indecency.

The thought as it is passes through Regina’s mind is certainly appealing however, and so, when Emma grows tired of this chaste game and snakes her hand between them, what protest Regina may have attempted at any other time is slow to form, and laughably easy to dismiss. She would never do this with another, but Emma being an exception to the rule is not surprising in the least.

Emma, she must concede at this stage, is the exception to many of her rules.

Mouths parting for breath, she buries her head in the crook of Emma’s neck and rocks into the fingers that play in the slick heat of her need. Emma murmurs in her ear, telling her how wet she is and how good she feels, spurring her on. “Inside,” she husks, more a plea than a demand, moaning as Emma obliges, sliding into her with ease.

Emma is gentle at first, testing with one finger, then two before adding a third, stilling unnecessarily between each addition. She experiments with the pace, trying different combinations of strength, speed and depth until Regina groans and demands she  _ fuck her already _ , desperate to the point she considers it a good idea to remind Emma of the night before and how she’d had no problem taking matters into her own hands when Emma had refused to do what she wanted _. _

It is at this very moment that she learns precisely how little Emma appreciates her threats, and how much she  _ enjoys _ her punishment. She sobs, her mind reeling as she’s suddenly being taken  _ hard _ and  _ fast. _

It’s with teeth savagely biting into her neck that she comes, and no amount of flesh sucked into her mouth in retaliation can muffle her cry of Emma’s name.

**

How they end up naked is a bit of blur; Regina doesn’t know if it’s the lack of oxygen to her brain after she’d been trapped between Emma’s thighs again, or if it’s the fact she’s still trying to recover from multiple orgasms. What she does know is that it’s a goddamn shame she never thought to try this sooner because the soft breeze against her skin in combination with the sun warming her entire body feels  _ incredible _ .

“We should get up,” Emma mumbles against her shoulder, hand rubbing slow, lulling circles over her stomach. Regina purrs and Emma raises her head, mouth quirking to one side as she warns, “You’re going to burn.”

Regina hums, touched by the concern in her voice but feeling far too sluggish to take the suggestion to heart. She’s sleepy, lids more than halfway to closing. If it’s a struggle to  _ remember _ things, there will be no point in her trying to move. Not yet, and definitely not of her own volition. “Unless you’re offering to carry me…”

“I so would,” Emma says, the very thought bringing a smile to Regina’s face. “If I had any confidence at all in myself that I could stand without immediately falling over, I mean.”

“Shall we crawl then?” She drawls, teasing. Emma groans and nudges her jaw with her head. “No? Not a fan of that idea?”

“Talking to you is exhausting enough.”

“I’d pretend to be offended,” she says, “if I didn’t think even that would require more effort than I’m willing to exert.”

Emma nods against her shoulder. “Whose dumb idea was this?”

Regina chuckles, lips pressed to her forehead as she murmurs, “Sadly, I think we might both be at fault for this one.”

“God.”

“Indeed,” she agrees, letting her eyes slip closed finally.

The silence settles around them, interspersed with the occasional birdsong or the chirp of an insect. To stop herself from falling asleep, Regina considers the weekend and all that has happened between them. If anyone had told her on Friday that by Monday all of her dreams will have come true, she would have fireballed them for being so cruel. Unlike Emma, she has never been good with hope. Oh, she had tried, more times than she dared to count, but she had never imagined this. Her heart had been broken far too many times for her to have ever conceived of the possibility that Emma might feel the same way about her. She had been careful to not wish too hard, though had never quite convinced her subconscious to do the same.

Dreams were all she had allowed herself, and now; here they were, huddled together after making love for the- well. Honestly, she’s lost count of how many times they’ve done it after last night. 

Emma has been wonderfully insatiable since.

“We can’t fall asleep out here.”

She hums. “We can,” she disagrees, “although I agree we probably shouldn’t.”

Her eyes flicker open as the weight and warmth of Emma’s head leaves her shoulder. “I’m already burning.”

Frowning, Regina scans her body for evidence of the claim. Emma does look a little more pink than usual. Rising onto her elbows, she raises the hand closest to Emma and caresses the hip nearest to her. “Is it bad?”

Emma smiles warmly as she leans in and kisses her lightly, head shaking when she sits back. “Nah.”

“We should have brought lotion,” Regina murmurs, lips upturning with a grin.

Eyes rolling, Emma gets to her feet. As she wanders about collecting their clothes, she says, “I think we got ourselves into enough trouble without giving me more reason to put my hands all over you.”

“Mmm.” Watching her bend for each piece of clothing that she pauses to put on, Regina is transfixed. She waits until Emma brings her her own clothes before she concedes, “Good point.”

Emma grins. “Come on, it’s probably lunch time by now.”

Getting to her feet, Regina dresses as she questions, “Have I ever told you that your obsession with food is rather worrying?”

Emma snorts. “Don’t worry, it’ll never beat my obsession with you.”

“It better not.”

**

Regina is thoroughly amused at the path her mind has decided to go down after their little bantering session by the lake. Comparing the way Emma eats food to the way she goes down on her is not something she thought required contemplation, but as it’s happening, she can certainly understand why it might. It begins borderline ravenous, yet by the end Emma is somehow, oddly, wonderfully methodical about it, as if being starved and being able to sate whichever hunger she’s attempting to feed slowly gives her some form of peace, of purpose.

Wonderful, odd, and absolutely hilarious.

“I’d ask, but I’m not sure I want to know.” She raises a brow and Emma elaborates, “That grin.” She gestures to her face with the jerk of her chin and wipes the crumbs of her sandwich from the corner her mouth. “It feels like it might be at my expense.”

Regina feels it widen and does nothing to try and stop it. “It is,” she admits, laughing softly when it prompts a glare. “Nothing bad,” she adds. “I promise.”

“Hmm.” 

Emma sounds suspicious, but Regina can tell by her expression that she believes her as her own expression softens into a smile. “So,” she drawls, deciding to spare her the embarrassment of the reason behind the grin. She changes the subject to ask, “When shall I plan on us leaving here?”

“Tomorrow,” Emma replies, slipping from her chair. 

She picks up their plates and heads into the kitchen as Regina frowns, eying her as she skirts around the counter. “I thought you said it was a romantic weekend?”

“I did.” Setting their dishes in the sink, Emma turns around and leans back against the bench. “And I don’t intend to waste a second of it,” she adds, smiling as she pushes herself forward and returns to the table. She stills next to her, hand out. Regina takes it and is tugged from her chair before Emma’s arms slip around her waist. “So, we’re going out to dinner tonight… we’ll have drinks, maybe a little dancing. Then we’ll come back here-” Here, she pauses long enough to grin before she continues. “-and maybe fool around a little bit more before falling asleep on that hideous couch again…”

Regina feigns shock, gasping as she lightly smacks her chest. “You leave my couch alone, you insensitive brute.”

“Sorry,” Emma murmurs, sounding decidedly  _ not _ . Before Regina can mock scold her for daring, she finds herself being kissed breathless for the umpteenth time today, and wonders if it is actually possible for a human being to melt into a puddle. Emma grins as she tips her head back to study her handiwork. “I love being able to do that.”

“Luckily for you,” Regina purrs, “I do as well.”

Especially considering she now knows precisely what to do the next time she’s trying to go to sleep and her mind refuses to shut the hell up; kissing Emma is going to solve quite a few of her problems in the future.

“No protests about dinner?”

She scrunches her face in confusion and asks, “Why would I do a stupid thing like that?”

Those adorable dimples that make her weak in the knees appear once more and she feels warm all over again when Emma kisses her on the nose. “Good.”

Feeling like an inane, love-sick teenager, Regina wrinkles her nose before raising a brow suggestively. “Until then?”

Emma smirks and like the annoying, mischievous little brat she is, suggests, “A nap?”

“Do you think I won’t punch you?” Overly confident in her safety; it’s the only explanation, really. “You choose the worst of times to vex me, Emma Swan.”

“Sorry,” she murmurs but unlike last time, Regina isn’t given time to consider it as she’s suddenly lifted into the air. She stifles her gasp, legs smoothly sliding around Emma’s waist as Emma gazes up at her with those beautiful green eyes, dark with wanting. “Let me make it up to you?”

Regina shivers, already claiming her gorgeous lips as she mumbles a, “Yes please,” against her mouth.


	4. Day 4

Shoving open the door to her apartment, Emma ushers Regina inside and closes it before dumping her bags on the floor. She notes the unexpected silence and frowns, glancing at the couch where she thought their son would be waiting for them. His usual spot in front of the TV empty, she thinks he must be in his room and raises her voice. “Henry, we’re back!”

Regina smacks her. “Your apartment is the size of a shoebox, there’s no need for yelling.”

Feigning hurt, she pouts and rubs her shoulder. “There’s no need for abuse either, but does that ever stop you?”

“I’ll show you abuse.”

“Promises promises,” she teases before dropping a kiss to her cheek. “Be right back.”

Brushing passed, she wanders from room to room in search of their son. It takes her all of about two minutes; Regina wasn’t lying about the size of her apartment. She thought it was cute when she found it, but it really is tiny.

Returning to her lounge slash bedroom, she shrugs when Regina looks at her in askance and rounds the counter into the kitchen. “Kid’s not here.”

“Maybe he’s with your parents,” Regina says, following and propping her hip against the counter.

“May-” Spotting the note on the fridge, Emma pulls it down. Recognizing their son’s scrawl, she shakes her head as she reads. “Nope; he’s at home, and it says here we’re not allowed join him for another-” She raises her head to look up at the clock. “-forty minutes.”

“Does it say why?”

“Nope.” Putting the note back where she found it, she wags her eyebrows. “Wanna ruin his surprise?”

“Better not.” Regina smirks, adding, “His tantrums are almost as bad as yours.”

“Says the drama queen.”

“Says _the_ Queen,” she retorts.

Eyes rolling, Emma steps up to her and fists a hand in her blouse. She tugs her forward, correcting her with a grin. “ _My_ Queen.” Regina doesn’t so much as stumble, as she does glide forward and mold against her. It gives Emma so many ideas, which she assumes was the point. “Forty minutes; what could we possibly do for all that time?”

A brow rises. “Pretend we’re responsible adults and check in with everyone?”

“Ugh.” She grimaces and her voice takes on a slight whine. “Really?”

Regina grins. “No, but the look on your face was hilarious.”

Rude. “Just for that, I don’t wanna make out anymore.”

“Yes you do,” she purrs, brushing their mouths together.

“You don’t know me,” Emma retorts, the words mumbled against her lips.

“Yes I do.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

Drawn out to sound like a hiss, she would almost think Regina annoyed if not for the hands suddenly beneath her shirt. She squirms, surprised by their heat as they glide up along the length of her spine. “Uh.”

“I know you.” Nails bite into her skin and Regina demands, “Say it.”

“Make me.” She’s barely said the words before those same nails slide down her back, hot and sharp against her flesh. She arches while strangling a whimper; two days and Regina already knows all of her weaknesses. “Oh,” she groans. “Oh, no fair.”

“Say it.” She shakes her head, refusing as a tongue flicks her lower lip. Regina chuckles, husking, “Do you honestly believe you can resist me?”

“N-no,” she admits, “but I’m willing to give it a shot.”

Humming, Regina teases her lips with the tip of her tongue. Slowly coaxing them open, she then licks into her mouth, kissing her deeply. Releasing her shirt, Emma wraps her arms around her, any desire to resist lost in the warm, wet slide of their tongues and the sensation of those hands running up and down her spine.

When she’s finally allowed to come up for air, she sucks in a sharp breath that hitches in her throat and threatens to strangle her as Regina nibbles a line from jaw to ear. Soft and throated, she murmurs, “Where’s the fun in refusing me, hmm?”

“It frustrates you,” Emma croaks, sucking in another breath, relieved that this one fills her lungs. She takes another. “That’s fun.”

“Not nearly as much as you might like to think.” Tongue flicking the lobe of her ear, Regina sucks it into her mouth. She bites down just enough to sting, then demands, “Now say it.”

Eyes fluttering shut, Emma starts to smile. She definitely should have kissed her for longer if she’d wanted her to give in that easy. “It.”

“Tsk.”

Regina begins to ease away from her. She considers tightening her hold before she registers the hand brushing over her hip and around to her front. Fingers dip beneath the waistband of her jeans and with a slight tug, her eyes open as Regina begins walking backwards. Her smile widens in understanding of the look Regina is giving her. It’s the same look she’d had their first time, after Emma had given her her first orgasm of the night and Regina had slid from her lap to kneel between her legs.

She is going to suffer for her bratiness, and in the best possible way.

As they come to stand beside her bed, Regina pulls from her embrace and raises a brow when she doesn’t move. “You know the drill by now.”

“What,” she drawls cheekily, “no romance?”

Hand still tucked snuggly in her pants, Regina yanks her forward. Breath warm against her mouth, she purrs, “You don’t deserve romance.” She kisses her then, using the kiss as a distraction to slip the hand from her jeans and maneuver Emma to where she wants her before pressing that same hand to her chest, and shoving.

Toppling over onto the bed, Emma grins up at her. She loves Regina like this. Their first time together, she was neither surprised nor disappointed to learn that, as with most areas in her life, Regina is dominant in the bedroom as well. She had hoped, and for once it hadn’t been in vain. She is by no means submissive herself, but if there is one thing that can turn her on quicker than anything else, it’s someone who knows what they want and has no problem _taking_ it should she decide to give them trouble.

She had given Regina _a lot_ of trouble over the weekend.

“You realize-” Regina comments casually as she climbs on top of her. “-I have magic now, yes?”

“Uh huh.” If she needed the reminder, the fact she isn’t currently bleeding into her shirt after being clawed would have done it. She doesn’t, though. Since Saturday, she’s been eager to find out whether or not it makes a difference. Her grin widens. “You gonna show me a trick?”

Smiling coyly, Regina replies, “Certainly.” She straddles her thighs and runs her hands beneath Emma’s shirt, over her stomach and up to her breasts. Palming them, she squeezes and leans forward, amending, “If you can earn it.”

Emma arches into her with a soft moan. “You gonna tell me what it is?”

“No.”

“But how will I know if it’s worth the effort?”

Gasping softly, Regina juts out her lower lip in a mock pout but her eyes shine, affection and amusement gazing down on her. “Don’t you trust me, Emma?”

“Oh.” She snorts, reaching out and gripping her thighs. She chides, “That’s low.”

“Yes.” Regina grins, kissing her lightly. “Effective too.”

Emma concedes with a tilt of her head. “You know we only have about thirty minutes left, right?”

The pout deepens. “That’s a point.”

She raises a brow. “So?”

Drawing the hands from her breasts, Regina strokes them down over her stomach, her look thoughtful. “How ‘bout this; I show you a small trick now, and you take care of me-”

“I definitely like where this is going,” Emma interrupts, thumbs rubbing circles on her inner thighs.

Regina grins and bestows her with another kiss. “Later tonight,” she continues, “when we have more time, I’ll reward you with a different, bigger trick, of which I will take shameless advantage of... repeatedly.”

Emma pretends to think about. She’s definitely intrigued, but she was sold the very second Regina mentioned taking care of her. Feigning reluctance, she sighs and drawls slowly, “I suppos-”

“Excellent,” Regina interjects, quickly removing the hands out from under shirt. She flicks her wrist and Emma frowns, eyes darting to and fro as she tries to figure out what exactly Regina just did.

The answer comes when Regina crawls the rest of the way up her body and hovers above her head. “Oh,” she breathes, remembering this morning when she’d watched her dress. She knows Regina had been wearing underwear, not only because she had seen her put them on but because they’d been a familiar, and far too tight, pair of red shorts.

Dizzy, overwhelmed by her scent, she strokes the back of Regina’s thighs, breathing her in as she reveals more and more of the naked flesh beneath her skirt. Fingers skimming the cheeks of her perfect ass, she lets out a breathy sigh and guides Regina to her mouth, impatient as she raises her head and swipes her tongue through warm, slick folds.

Moaning in pleasure, Regina grabs the back of her head with both hands, keeping her there. “No teasing,” she orders, breathy and light, and so so demanding.

It sends a tingle down her spine even though the words themselves are beyond ridiculous. Unable to to tell her as much, Emma decides to prove it to her instead. She licks from entrance to clit and back again, pushing a little further and pressing down not half an inch from where Regina deemed _obscene_ the night before despite how hard she’d come after Emma fluttered her tongue over the puckered little hole. Regina jerks back but she rocks forward just as quickly, a strangled sounding whimper escaping from deep within her chest.

Assured she’d made her point, Emma gazes up at her, needing to see the expression of pure lust that comes over her face. Usually, she would start out slow but given the order, and conscious of the time, she settles for what she knows Regina likes and flattens her tongue, caressing her slit a few times with long, broad strokes before swirling at her entrance and slipping inside.

Silky heat envelops her, clenching, as a sweet tang coats her tongue and Regina groans, arching her back beautifully before falling forward. Free of her hands, Emma takes a firmer grip with her own and lowers her head, pulling Regina down. She only just manages to narrow her tongue before Regina begins rolling her hips, trying to get it deeper as she rides her face.

Emma squeezes her ass in encouragement, happy to be used while keeping pace as best she can. She hums as more and more of Regina spills into her mouth, already addicted to the taste and perfectly okay with it.

Regina says her name like a warning and a plea all wrapped in a single word, voice guttural and low, and she knows it’s time. She wishes she had more but she’d known going in that this is the quickest way to make Regina come.

Thankfully, it’s also her favourite.

Curling her tongue, taking as much of Regina’s sweet juices with her, Emma pulls out and swallows them down, moaning as she returns to her clit. With one last squeeze to her ass, she wraps her arms around Regina’s thighs and draws the little nub into her mouth. She sucks, and she sucks hard, relishing the sharply gasped cry of her name as Regina writhes and covers her chin with the sweetest of pleasure.

Knowing she likes to take her time to recover, Emma slowly guides Regina from her face and onto her back. She rolls with her, settling between her legs, pushing her skirt up to her waist and stroking her thighs as she dips down and begins cleansing her with the languid, rolling licks of her tongue.

Hand darting down to rest on the back of her head, Regina urges her to continue well passed when she knows she should stop, fingers pressing down and leaving her little choice.

Making her come is even easier the second time around. Sensitive as she is, it’s a simple matter of suckling on her clit and massaging her folds before more of that delicious heat spills from her hole onto Emma’s chin.

When Emma finishes cleaning her again, Regina gently pulls at her hair. Happily lead, Emma obliges the silent request as she rises from between her legs and covers her body with her own. Regina kisses her, moaning softly, caressing her cheeks before she allows her hands to wander, slipping down her neck. One hand rests along her collarbone, thumb stroking the notch at her throat while the other slides over a shoulder, down her back to the cheeks of her ass, squeezing.

Breaking the kiss with a hum, Regina pats her butt fondly and says, “Next time, we do it without all of these clothes in my way.”

“I’m all for that.” Emma kisses her once more before she rolls from on top of her and off the bed altogether. “And for the record,” she continues, tone teasing, “You do know me... but that was the worst punishment ever.”

**

Arriving at the house fives minutes later than Henry had specified in his note, Emma immediately senses something is off. Mifflin has always been a quiet, empty street but today that quiet emptiness feels different; not quite as quiet, or as empty for that matter, as she’s become accustomed to. Her eyes narrow as they walk from the car to the front door.

“There are people in my house.” Her head jerks to the side. Regina chuckles and takes her hand, tugging, forcing her still. She kisses her cheek, then explains, “That’s what you’re sensing.”

“Oh.” Frown deepening as they resume walking toward the house, hand in hand, Emma asks, “How?”

Regina raises a shoulder in an almost shrug. “You are very intune with me,” she reasons before her voice drops low in warning, “and I am well aware when people tread where they do not belong.”

Emma shivers. “Please don’t do that.” Regina cocks a brow and she adds, “Unless you want me to ravish you right here on your porch.”

Regina smirks. “You may ravish me, again, later,” she promises. “Let’s see what surprise our son has in store for us first, hmm?”

Sighing, sounding slightly more put out than she intends, Emma replies, “I guess.”

Regina pushes open the door, dragging her inside. They’re both laughing, stumbling their way through the house until they reach the kitchen. Their laughter cuts off at the same time but just as quickly Emma begins laughing again, Regina silent beside her, quietly disapproving. Above the counter, stretching from one side of the room to the next, is a banner. It reads: Congratulations on the sex.

“Mom, I can explain.” Behind the counter is their family; Henry with his hands up, Snow leaning against the sink with a glass of wine, trying not to laugh. David is at the stove, his shoulders shaking because he is too much like Emma to _not_ laugh.

“Aww, I missed it.”

Regina turns, dismissing their son in favour of the new arrivals. Emma turns with her, biting the inside of her cheek. Red tips her head to the side, grin wolfish and wide. Granny comes up behind her, hands on her shoulders, head shaking. “You are toast, my girl.”

Red chuckles. “Worth it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, I shall return to ItNoT and TB&TE.


End file.
